


The Pages of Summer Told

by FireEye



Category: Lost Odyssey
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-03
Updated: 2019-08-03
Packaged: 2020-07-30 15:47:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20099671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireEye/pseuds/FireEye
Summary: Kaim and Sarah retrieve a legendary tome from a would-be warlord.





	The Pages of Summer Told

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lassarina](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lassarina/gifts).

The double doors to the dining hall were shoved open with an echoing creak. Scowling, Lord Hagan glanced up at the interruption... and blanched. His guards trailed the interloper in confusion, unwilling to get too close to a man they’d already seen to the dungeon once.

Sarah smiled faintly. More at the reaction that Kaim’s unexpected reappearance garnered than at their circumstances. His clothes were torn and stained with dirt and blood; his hair was stringy with grime and tangled. Strolling right up to the table, he pulled out the chair beside her and sank down heavily.

Her eyes flicked back to the young lord at the head of the table, who could scarcely be called their host.

“You were saying, Lord Hagan?”

He _had_ been plying her esteem by bragging at how he’d sent Kaim to a painful and prolonged demise. Now he was sputtering in shock, as the very same man he’d condemned to death helped himself to a heaping plateful of the culinary delicacies laid out upon his dinner table.

“You-...!”

He didn’t seem to have much to add to that, and Kaim ignored him for all of three mouthfuls before he cleared his throat. Pointing his fork towards Hagan’s plate, he asked, “Are you going to eat that?”

When Hagan couldn’t choke up an answer, Kaim stretched along the table to slide the lord’s plate back towards him, which he added to his own sizable bounty.

“Lord Hagan-...” Sarah began, only to be interrupted as the guards rushed forward...

...only to fall back in terror as Kaim turned his head towards them and chewed quietly in their direction. He flipped his fork over in his hand, then enlightened the room as he stabbed a baked tuber with it, “There is little in life like being eviscerated to work up an appetite.”

“Lord Hagan,” Sarah tried again. “About the Book of Summer. I understand that you feel that you have a claim to it, but it _is_ mine by right and I would like to have it back.”

“_Preposterous_.”

It was impossible to tell whether Hagan was reacting to Sarah’s request, or Kaim helping himself to another serving of diced sweet-roots.

The wise bet seemed to be on the latter.

Sarah sighed.

***

They were three and a half days away from the fortress before they stopped for anything more than a few minutes rest. Just because they couldn’t be killed didn’t mean that attempts on their lives were in any way pleasant, after all.

...and, well...

Dying without death took its own kind of toll.

There was a bend in the river, where the flow of the water slowed to form a natural pool. It was quiet and peaceful, and the spring peepers quieted at first before growing accustomed to their presence and resuming their chorus in full force.

Sarah sat on the water’s edge, letting the river wash over her feet. Kaim stood at its deepest point, up to his hips, and she watched the beads of moisture roll down his back, cutting through the dirt and blood to the flawless skin beneath.

He still wasn’t all there. But, as Sarah watched, his sluggish motions slowed to a standstill, and his hand tightened on his arm.

Kaim sighed deeply. 

“Are you alright?” His voice carried quietly over his shoulder, and he admitted, “I was worried.”

That was it, then.

Beyond mere survival.

A return to self.

Sarah toyed with the corner of the page she had been writing on while she waited. Smiling, she shrugged nonchalantly. “The worst he did was offer to marry me.”

Kain _hrrmph_ed.

“He had me considering it, you know?”

Water sloughed around him as Kaim whirled around towards her. His eyes narrowed. “He... _what_?”

Sarah’s smile deepened.

“_You_ never offered to marry me,” she teased.

“I-...” Kaim’s eyebrows knit together, and he angled his head in thought. “No. But....”

“But?”

Kaim stared for several seconds longer. Then, taking a deep breath, he plunged under the river. The ripples reached the shore, lapping at Sarah’s calves.

A mere handful of moments later, he broke the surface again with a splash. Wading towards the shore, he dashed water out of his eyes and slicked it out of his hair. He gave his already ruined clothes a once over, then threw them down to sit beside Sarah, and stretched out his legs.

Sunlight dappled his skin. He looked worn, but peaceful, and his eyes followed the words that poured from her quill.

“What’s so special about this Book of Summer, anyway?” he wondered.

“I wrote it,” Sarah told him. “It’s one of my journals... one of my earliest.”

Kaim’s eyebrows raised. “It’s an artifact. It was a prize of _three_ wars. We tracked it across _two_ continents. _You_ wrote it?”

“You know how it is.” Sarah smiled. She brushed the feather of her quill against his chin, and he raised a hand to defend himself. “Sometimes you... lose track of things for a couple of centuries.”

Groaning, Kaim leaned back onto his elbows. Then he snorted, rubbing the river mud that got caught between his fingers. A wan, sarcastic smile inched across his face.

“Did I ever tell you about the time I got buried alive by an angry mob?”

“...that’s horrid!” Sarah’s eyes widened. “What did you do?”

“It was wartime.” Kaim sighed. “Our side... we were...” He cleared his throat. “We were the aggressors. I was hired on, along with every other sword they could find... and we lost. But I wouldn’t die, so they didn’t know what else to do with me.”

“So they _buried_ you? How did you get free? How long did it take to dig out?”

“Mmm... I didn’t. It felt like forever... then some kids dug me up, wanting to know if I was real and not some fairy tale.”

Kaim’s smile quirked, and he shrugged _what can you do?_ Sarah stared, then snickered.

“I’m sorry,” she said, hiding a smile behind her fingers. “That’s still horrid.”

Pushing up onto one arm, Kaim leaned in close to her, but Sarah squeaked, “Could you be careful – the ink’s still drying.”

“Let it,” he told her, rather unnecessarily as she set the book aside.

She straightened again, and he leaned in to press his lips against hers. Sarah met him halfway, then broke the kiss with a giggle.

“So how about it?” she asked.

Kaim blinked. “What?”

“Getting married?”

A sigh brushed her ear, followed closely by his mouth.

“It’s a big commitment,” he pointed out, nuzzling her throat. “Can I think about it a while?”

“How _long_ is a while?”

“A decade. Maybe two. Maybe less.”

“Kaim!”

It was a mock-admonishment, in the same tone of his not taking it too seriously.

“Maybe just until we get to the other side of the next kingdom.”

“I’ll hold you to that, you know.”

“Please do. Until then...” Kaim admitted, “I’d like to hold you.”

Sarah snickered again, and shook her head. Holding up a hand, she left Kaim utterly bemused as she reached for her book.

“_What_?”

“_Sorry_-... sorry; I’m writing that one down.”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoy this little romp of an adventure. :)
> 
> .<strike>..I may have too much fun with the 'immortals' mechanic, and if so, forgive me.</strike>


End file.
